I'm really sorry for publishing the post so late, but unfortunately I had no possibility at all to do it before.

◦ This week, or better last week, was full of debut anniversaries, many of which are related to many representative roles , in some case more for excellent quality than for frequency of interpretation. The case of today belongs to this latter category. For example, until a few years ago I did not know that the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 1982/83 season had the great privilege to offer just a glimpse of someone who could have been one of the performers per excellence of Roméo, from Charles Gounod's opera Roméo et Juliette.

I think we don't need to dedicate too much time to review the story, as it is inspired to the play of the same title by William Shakespeare: I assume then that we all have in mind the story of a love thwarted by the antagonism between the two families from Verona, Montagues and Capulets.

Josep Carreras made his debut in this role on 23 January 1983, almost thirty years ago. It was Joaquim, friend and author of the wonderful blog In Fernem Land I often mention, who first informed me about this performance. I recently had the opportunity to discuss the subject with my friend Miquel, and really interesting ideas are born from our conversation.

◦ Top romantic Roméo is a tailor-made role on the prototype of the French tenor, featuring a light and mannered timbre together with a stylistically elegant and delicate kind of expression. These were thought to be the ideal characteristics to effectively embody this character, but perhaps this is true mostly in the opening of the opera. From a certain moment, however, the drama gradually takes hold of the story of the two lovers, and this is inevitably reflected in the tenor voice that evolves towards more dramatic shades to give credibility to his interpretation. In this way, features typical of a leggero leave space to those of a purely lyric tenor, sometimes even closer to spinto. Different types of tenors have experienced this role, leading to very different results: depending on the nature of their voice, they tend to privilege more the romantic side taking from the dramatic, or vice versa.

◦ But let's focus on Josep Carreras. I find it very curious and interesting that many people who I consider to be real experts, besides the personal taste of each, clearly remember and always mention Carreras as Roméo, a contribution of only three performances in a whole career. How could just three performances that took place in only one theater, be so powerfully clear and dear in the memories of someone who have always loved and lived opera?

Context may help us to understand more deeply. We are at the beginning of 1983, and at that time Josep was 36: he was young, and especially young looking. He was physically perfect to give life to Roméo. Good looking, with a divine voice to give even greater credibility to the character: the splendor of his timbre and his charming phrasing led him to be exquisitely delicate and romantic when it was necessary, without preventing him to give life to the drama and despair with equal sincerity, as he had trained a lot on that, because of the inclusion of more dramatic roles in his repertoire in those last few years.

◦ At this point, we just have to understand why, with such prerequisites, his Roméo has lived only for three nights. Who knows, if he had included it in his repertoire a few years before, things would have been different, and he would have triumphed as Roméo, as it happened with many other roles, in the greatest opera houses in the world. We could try to suppose a certain difficulty related with French tenor model earlier mentioned, that probably he could have solved with greater ease in the late 70's, or maybe it's just a matter of identification which made him feel more confident with the Roméo of the second part. We could go on, but only he knows the truth.

It's a real pity, as according to what I was told before, and I later realised, if he had insisted more on this character, his performance would have achieved ideal levels and would have set the standard. However, as far from someone's point of view, he hassucceded in it it anyway.

This dream was a brief reality in which the image of his Roméo under Juliette's balcony, culminating with the phrase "Va, repose en paix! sommeille" pronounced with the typical sweetness of a lover, leaning on a unique domain of mezzavoce, must have gathered a long queue of Juliettes madly in love, waiting for him out of the door of the Liceu at the Sant Pau Road.

◦ To celebrate its Roméo have long looked fot a fragment in which the identification between artist and character was hardly equable. I'm not completely sure of my choice, but I propose the final drama. I do not want you to think I'm obsessed with the final dramas, mostly after my recent proposal of La Bohème, because it is not true.

"Salut, tombeau sombre et silencieux" is the first verse of the duet concluding the story. The soprano, Patricia Wise, was Juliette and Jacques Delacote conducted Choir and Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. The second one of the three performances, dating back to 26 January 1983, was broadcast by Nacional Radio.

◦ To run away from an unwanted marriage, as she actually is in love with Romeo, on Friar Lawrence's advice, Juliette takes a filter that simulates death. The young Montague girl is lying at the family tomb, and everyone thinks she is dead. At this point, the tragedy takes possession of the heart of the poor Roméo who stares at the beauty on Juliette's face, a beauty that seems still alive, as if it smiles to eternity. In these moments, Josep's voice exudes a sharp pain which the audience will inevitably share: one can not remain insensitive to the way he pronounces the verses "Ah, je ne contemple sans crainte, Tombs où je vais enfin reposer près d'elle", but the most touching is to see him giving a final hug and the last kiss of love, announced in "O mes bras, Donnez-he votre dernière étreinte! Mes lèvres, Donnez -he votre dernier baiser", imbued with such a desperation that makes us hopelessly empathic, almost sharing his tragedy. It is in these verses where Josep Carreras's artistic soul, that soul we all know, is set free, and the Gounod's music turns out to be a perfect accomplice. Here we have an unexpected turn of event: Juliette suddenly wakes up leaving the young man simply astonished, or I would say shocked if we rely on our tenor's interpretation.

◦ The voices of Carreras and Patricia Wise, his Juliette, combine to for a short-lasting dream in which they meditate to escape together, depply moving us as if we were to dream at all costs with them, but immediately Roméo comes around, "Juliette, à la porte des cieux! et mourir!", and brings tragedy back, revealing that he had taken a poison as he believed she was dead. In vain, he tries to console her "console-toi, pauvre âme, Le Rêve était trop beau! L'amour, céleste flamme, survit même au tombeau! The soulève et la pierre, des anges immovable, comme un flot de lumière, if perd dans l'infini". It is with painful tenderness that Josep Carreras shows the true essence of this story: he defines a feeling, their love , that can go beyond the grave and get lost in the infinite. It is a union that will survive forever, a union that nor the obstacles placed by their families could avoid. Juliette hurts hersalf with a dagger he wore under her dress to die with the man she loves. In their joy for dying together, so peacefully, that beg the forgiveness of God, and Gounod's final music in crescendo makes it all even more sublime! Enjoy it!Hope you have enjoy my late proposal, let me apologise for that. See you next Sunday with a new Video. Wish you all a nice week!!